Research Assistant Phone Interview

[Marissa4usa]

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Hi all,
I just learned that I am a finalist for a competitive research assistant position. I am super excited but also very nervous. It's going to be a phone interview which makes me somewhat nervous as I usually prefer to speak to people in person.

1. What kind of questions will they ask?
2. What kind of questions should I ask?
3. I am not a native-speaker. I have been living in the US for the past 8 years and I pretty much think and dream in English, however, I still make some occasional mistakes and I have an accent. I have also been a teaching assistant for the past two years and none of my students or anybody else has ever complained about not being able to understand me. People who read my academic papers, are not able to tell that English isn't my first language. I know all of this sounds very good, but I am still worried that - given that it is a phone interview - the first impression will be negative.

I have read that the inteviews for these kind of positions are pretty much like grad school interviews. This helps because at least I have been to one of those (obviously unsuccesful).

I am so excited and freaked out!! Please provide any advice you may have! It's greatly appreciated!

 

[KPsych]

Hi Marissa,

I've done my fair share of phone interviews for RA positions so hopefully I can be of some help. Firstly, from the way you describe your communication skills as a second-language English speaker it seems that you will have no problem. You will also not be the first person they have interviewed with over the phone that has had an accent; they might even have their own heavy accent (speaking from experience :\) so I can't imagine they would think badly of you. I would just make sure to remind yourself to enunciate and to not speak too quickly as this might be your inclination if you end up being nervous.
But overall, don't worry too much! I found my phone interviews to be quite relaxed and straight forward. I can’t say whether the questions will be like a grad school interview, but I personally have never had any problem answering the questions posed to me. Just sell yourself, be specific, and make sure you have your facts straight when it comes to explaining your research experience.

Also for future reference, these sorts of questions might be better suited for the Psychology (BA BS MSW MA) forum.

Best of luck!!!